SubSeaTVBritish Wildlife Photography Awards
Posted on September 5, 2013
Deep Colour, our 90-second video, celebrates the diversity and colour of British underwater life. We’re delighted that it was highly commended by the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2013, and rolled up for the awards ceremony at Mall Galleries last night, hosted by Chris Packham.
Across all categories, inspiring images showed captivating moments in nature, and told UK wildlife’s stories. It was a privilege to share a room with so many talented people who share our passion for the natural world.
Enjoy Deep Colour.
Puffin Paradise
Posted on August 4, 2013
Remote, unexplored North Rona tickled our spirit of adventure, so we left the Flannan isles and steamed north for nine hours. North Rona is neighbour to the Faroe islands, and so small she often doesn’t appear on the map. We didn’t know anyone who had dived there, and no dive reports could tell us what we’d find. Wind confined us to a sheltered bay, and time limited us to a single dive. Our party split: some dived through towering kelp forest on the seabed and some explored a shallow wreck. However, the best North Rona moments were topside, with her puffins.
Nesting on a long-abandoned island, North Rona’s puffins are not used to humans. Their curiosity brought them close, curved orange beaks checking us out and smiling for the camera. Undisturbed by the prone cameraman, cute and comical puffin antics played in front of the lens, giving us an hour of wonderful footage, and the privilege of being accepted into their midst.
Here’s a 30 second taster of life in North Rona’s puffin colony.
Far Flung Flannan
Posted on July 30, 2013
Far-flung dots on the chart, the Flannan isles are four hours north of St Kilda and twenty miles west of Lewis. The tiny archipelago is known as the seven hunters in Gaelic, Na h-Eileanan Flannach. When the lighthouse was automated in 1971, the last permanent residents abandoned its remote shores to sheep, seabirds and rabbits. And the phantom, of course – the islands are said to be haunted.
En route to North Rona, we stopped for one surprising and spectacular dive. We dropped from the rib into a gully so clear it was like diving in tap water. Marine life was vibrant, healthy, varied, and densely packed on every surface. The water surged and swelled, which made for tough filming conditions, but gave us wonderful images filled with colour, life and movement. Here are 45 seconds of Flannan highlights.
St Kilda Colour
Posted on July 29, 2013
We arrived in Village Bay just before midnight, as the last daylight sank into calm Atlantic waters. The UK’s highest sea cliffs loomed before us, their tops shrouded in mist. We dropped anchor into glass-like water; the gales were behind us, high pressure had settled in, as we did, for three nights.
We dived around Hirta and Boreray, and explored the ruined village, abandoned in 1930 when the last 36 St Kildans were evacuated to the mainland. From the rib, we looked up at seabird colonies on the Stacs and marveled at St Kildans’ survival by harvesting seabirds. The initiation ritual now made sense: young single men had to go to a narrow point on an exposed cliff top, stand on one leg, and reach down and touch their ankle. This would prove their ability to provide for a family.
Underwater, vertical walls dropped into the deep. Exposed walls were scrubbed clean by wild Atlantic storms, while those with more shelter were carpeted with brightly coloured dahlia, plumose, and jewel anemones. Crabs and lobsters hid in crevices, Devonshire cup coral clung to rock, jelly-like hydroid medusae floated past, our torch beams picked out colour and life everywhere. Caves and arches were waiting to be explored. Visibility was spectacular, at more than 25 metres. Watch this 30-second video to peek into the most remote corner of Britain’s underwater world.
Tobermory Shelter
Posted on July 27, 2013
Leaving the Caledonian canal we had one question on our minds, “Will we make it to St Kilda?” Gale force winds were building, but the promise of calm weather beyond fed our hopes. We were stuck in Tobermory for two days, but with spectacular dives in the sheltered Sound of Mull and a few beers in the legendary Mishnish, we managed to cope…
The Hispania is one of the best dives in the Sound of Mull. She sits on her keel in 25m of water with a slight list to starboard. Vivid with colour, very strong tidal flows feed nutrients to plumose anemones, hanging tight to every available surface.
Watch these 60 seconds of video to share our joy as we dived the Hispania.